"This issue takes as its theme the founding era of the New-York Historical Society and of the United States. Essays focus on Washington Irving, George Washington and the Presidency, Dolley Madison, loyalists in Revolutionary New York City, Governors Island, the execution of Nathan Hale, amateur historians of the nineteenth century, and the construction of the Erie Canal. Contributors include the scholars Carol Berkin, Gordon S. Wood, and Brendan McConville. Illustrated essays feature Duncan Phyfe, a memorial kerchief to Alexander Hamilton, and several short descriptions of an array of eighteenth- and early-nineteenth-century objects and items from the library and museum collections."